One impact of publishing a monthly post instead of the weekly one I used to produce [see ‘600th post and time for a change‘, on January 3rd 2024], is that I often starting writing without any memory of the recent posts.  So, I have only just noticed that, ignoring the posts on technical topics, all my posts this year have been on the theme of what it means to be an individual [see ‘Is the autonomous individual ceasing to exist?’ on January 1^st, ‘Its all in the mind’ on March 5^th, and ‘Are we individuals?’ on April 2^nd].  You might be led to believe that I am having a crisis of identity but you would be wrong.  I think that this common theme arose subconsciously as result of the technological and political events that are reshaping society at the moment.  We appear to be losing the capacity to recognise others as beings like ourselves, which is the basis of freedom and democracy.  Without it we treat others as objects rather than individuals leading towards tyranny and the dissolution of trust and truth.

Reference:

Liberty in peril: a review of Timothy Snyder’s book: On Freedom, FT Weekend 12/13 October 2024.